


while i'm underwater.

by riskbreakered



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 12:58:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11578536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riskbreakered/pseuds/riskbreakered
Summary: A late evening visit to a back-alley clinic. (Slightly edited & reposted!)





	while i'm underwater.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alithea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alithea/gifts).



She brings coffee, sometimes.

Takemi wonders if she should take it as a small gesture of kindness or guilt. Sae; Niijima-san, sword of justice, that woman has sharpened keenly all of her edges and can offer so little gentleness now in turn.

Even, and perhaps especially, to herself.

Sae's hand lingers on the lid of the cup. Under the dull lamplight she appears to Takemi as a phantom shadow, dark-lidded and drawn.

"The clinic is open late tonight."

"Late enough for last minute exams, I suppose."

"And your more legitimate business?"

"You'd be surprised who will travel out of their way for adequate care."

Takemi turns away from her papers and reaches for the coffee cup. She sips, also a polite gesture, and watches Sae lean against her desk.

There's conflict in it, as if she might keep a defense against Takemi's small office or, hand resting so near her own on the desk, reach out.

"You should relax a bit. I expect you already locked up on your way in." There's sweetness on her tongue; two sugars, just as she mentioned before. Takemi knows not to be surprised at the attention to small details, and yet.

"Or what, you'll offer to write me a prescription?" Sae, so very close, takes a look at her wristwatch. "There's no time to get too comfortable, or I'll miss the next train out of this neighborhood."

"Mm," Takemi says, stretching out in her chair, cat-like. "So inconvenient."

It's a subtle but efficient goading, though she never needs much. Even a sword of justice can falter, she knows, as does this one.

Sae leans down, kisses her.

* * *

"You're late already," she can't help pointing out. Takemi smiles, her lips lingering against the soft skin of Sae's neck, and as such she misses her response. "But I doubt you'll listen and come home with me tonight."

"Even more inconvenient," Sae confirms, slipping back inside her armor and safely out of Takemi's reach. "I have responsibilities in my personal life I can't ignore completely."

Takemi hums in acknowledgement and doesn't make a habit of watching her leave. She takes up her seat at the desk again. The coffee is tepid now, tasting almost bitter.

She nevertheless takes time to drink the rest.

* * *

Makoto wakes at the muffled noise in the other room. She listens, looking up to the dark of her ceiling, as her sister finally returns home.

She has become more familiar with this sharp, stinging pain in her chest as she now eats her dinner alone. As she grows accustomed to the silence, and her punishment, and this great chasm of silence between her and her sister.

Makoto wonders where she has been of late. What battles she has fought across the city in the pursuit of justice.

And if Sae ever imagines that her younger sister might also fight, if not in the same way, than surely—

Surely for the same ideals.


End file.
